


Steaming Up the Glass

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Series: DouWata 30 Day OTP Challenge [17]
Category: xxxHoLic
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Couple's Appreciation, Does this qualify as Tooth Rotting Fluff?, M/M, Sensuality, showering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 06:44:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4615245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Can I wash you?"</p><p>It was a strange request, surely. But the soap beneath his fingers was sensation. Dry, unyielding, warm from the heat of the bathroom. When he passed it under the water, it would be slippery and wet, sudsing up bubbles where it touched skin; skin, that could also be touched, and felt beneath the spray of the shower, and Doumeki looked down at Watanuki evenly. </p><p> </p><p>Can be read as a companion piece to "Flecks of Water", but not necessary!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steaming Up the Glass

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Bathing/Washing, man, I don't even know where this one came from xD Universal?
> 
> Sensual instead of sexual is gold <3
> 
> I do not own _xxxHolic_. Thanks for reading!

Doumeki's fingers stilled over the bar of soap. It was mostly dry, yet sticky beneath his fingers, and he was quiet for a moment in thought while Watanuki looked at him critically.

"What are you doing?" Watanuki grumbled, and reached for the soap himself.

Doumeki snatched the bar away, and fixed Watanuki with a straight face. "Can I wash you?" he asked shortly, and tried to not let the unassurance creep into his voice.

It was a strange request, surely. But the soap beneath his fingers was sensation. Dry, unyielding, warm from the heat of the bathroom. When he passed it under the water, it would be slippery and wet, sudsing up bubbles where it touched skin; skin, that could also be touched, and felt beneath the spray of the shower, and Doumeki looked down at Watanuki evenly. It wasn't about sexual gratification, which he hoped that Watanuki grasped.

The usually bespectled teen seemed to, if the lack of yelling was anything to go by. The blush on his face spoke volumes, and Doumeki suspected that his sudden, intent desire to take care of Watanuki had gotten through through his eyes.

"Why?" Watanuki asked. No, he wasn't yelling, and had reverted into looking bashful. Self-conscious, that was it, and Doumeki itched to reach out and caress his bare skin.

Watanuki was and had always been incredibly self-conscious about his body, and it was a long-standing goal of Doumeki's to batter that out of him. He was beautiful; Watanuki needed to understand that for himself.

"Because." _I want to._ Doumeki didn't add that, because he didn't need to, and a lack of words worked better between them more often than not. He kept Watanuki's gaze for a moment longer, awaiting a denial if Watanuki so wished to give it, but he didn't, and Doumeki sighed in relief, reaching over to hold the soap under the spray of the shower.

"I don't get the point," Watanuki said, although it wasn't a complaint, not really.

 _Everything doesn't have to have one_ , Doumeki thought and lathered up his hands. It was unconventional, but he didn't care.

He started at Watanuki's shoulders, curling his hands around his arms and swiping the pads of his fingers over the shoulders. He slid his hands around to the nape of Watanuki's neck, sweaty from the hot day, pushing his hands down his back gently. He paused only briefly in the small of his back and then moved back up, absently dragging the tips of his nails up Watanuki's spine.

Watanuki shivered and Doumeki apologized blindly, abandoning his back in favor of his chest, fingers roving back to the front to trace along the pale skin there. Watanuki wasn't built by any standards, but he wasn't out of shape, either. He liked athletics; he liked sports. And Doumeki liked this, liked Watanuki like this, and he pressed his hands flat over his wet skin, smoothing the soap against his chest and nipples and his sensitive sides, over the hairless expanse of his stomach and along the lines of his bony hips.

Watanuki didn't speak, and neither did Doumeki. He had the feeling that he was vaguely making Watanuki uncomfortable with the attention, but he did deserve it. Doumeki was _positive_ on that.

He gripped Watanuki's shoulders, angling him slightly into the spray of the shower to wash away the remains of the soap on his body. Watanuki's eyes fluttered shut, water droplets catching on his long, dark eyelashes, and Doumeki had to fight against the blossoming warmth in his chest - how could he deserve someone like him? And how could someone like him not understand how important he was? - to duck out of the way and reach for the forgotten bar of soap in the bottom of the shower.

He sank onto his knees, the shower warm and rough beneath his kneecaps. The motion was strangely unassuming, and Doumeki went to work washing again; his hips again and down the long legs, up between the thighs and around to his backside. He remained silent, almost methodical, the sudden task a purpose to an otherwise uneventful day, and the feel of Watanuki's skin beneath his fingers, the sound of their breathing over the shower, and endless body in front of his eyes.

Doumeki was lucky.

His hands paused and he felt the subtle uptick of the corners of his mouth. He closed his eyes briefly, and then startled enough to open them when Watanuki put his hand against his cheek.

Doumeki looked up at him, gently curious and silently questioning.

Watanuki looked surprised, as though he hadn't expected to reach down and caress Doumeki's face. "Ah..." He pulled away slightly, but Doumeki abandoned Watanuki's thigh to catch his hand, resting them both against his own cheek, Watanuki's hand soft and warm against his face, and Doumeki's hand strong and calloused over Watanuki's.

Doumeki wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, him on his knees in the shower, Watanuki's hand on his cheek and his hand over Watanuki's, only aware of his own breathing and his heart beating and the darkness of the inside of his eyelids.

Watanuki was the one who broke the silence. "... Can I wash you now?"

Doumeki opened his eyes again, blinked water out of his gaze. Watanuki looked down at him with less apprehension and embarrassment than before, although his cheeks were still pink and his hair plastered to his head didn't make him look any more superior. Which was fine. Because they were the same, on equal footing, and Doumeki turned his head slightly to kiss the interior of Watanuki's wrist.

"Yes," he said, breaking his silence, and he let his hand fall from Watanuki's. He straightened, and stood, and handed the soap over to Watanuki's hands.

Their fingers lingered for only a second too long, and Watanuki smiled in a lopsided sort of way, and took the soap from Doumeki's hands.

Doumeki returned the smile, only slightly, almost unconsciously, and dropped both of his hands to his sides, silently encouraging himself into not stroking his fingers against Watanuki's slick skin for a moment.

It was apparently his turn to feel appreciated, and as long as it was Watanuki's hands on his body, Doumeki was certain that he'd feel appreciated for eternity.

 


End file.
